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Long time readers of this blog will remember that I once lived in New York with my best friend Sachin, and at some point during that time he started dating a girl named Anushka. Some 3 or so years later, they were married. A month after that, I am finally blogging about it.
It’s hard to recap a weekend that was quite simply one of the highlights of my year. For starters, the wedding took place only a few weeks after the 5th anniversary of our college graduation. In the last five years, our close group of friends has managed to do good things for themselves. We have doctors, MBAs, authors (one guy is actually all three), lawyers, and whatever it is Jigar does. It’s near impossible to get all of us in one place together – it literally takes a marriage for it to happen – but getting back together this time just seemed more momentous than any of our reunions in the past.
Obviously we celebrated. Hard. Between the Friday night ‘last hurrah’ with Sachin, the post-rehearsal happy hour on Saturday, the Sangeet Saturday evening, the morning champagne toast(s) before the wedding ceremony on Sunday, the post-wedding happy hour, and the reception itself, its safe to say that our weekend was rather…liquid.
The Sangeet (basically a pre-wedding reception) on Saturday was a blast. Anushka’s parents hosted it at their home in Maryland, and after a brief ride from the hotel on a school bus, we partied the night away in a huge tent in her backyard. Niya (Sachin’s sister) and Rishi (close friend) performed a dance to the song Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire and halfway through the song were joined by about 8 other friends in a choreographed surprise of greatness. And then I gave a speech.
Oh, did I give a speech.
A speech that earned me a handshake from what seems like every single one of the 250-300 guests in attendance that weekend. A speech that had women telling me they were ‘angry’ at me. Because I’d made them both cry and laugh so hard they ruined their makeup. Now I’m not one to usually brag (ha!), but I’ve never felt so awesome in my life.
(Since I know you’re wondering, I’m hoping I’ll get my hands on a copy of it soon.)
The wedding the next day was beautiful. It was held at The Galleria in Washington DC, a beautiful venue with a high glass arched ceiling that made it seem like an outdoor ceremony. The ceremony, like all Indian ceremonies, was extensive, made ever more awkward/hilarious by the priest forgetting Sachin’s name for a few minutes.
After the ceremony, the Michigan crew – including Sachin – went out for beers and debated whether the priest’s gaff meant Sachin was married or not. After a few rounds, we got ready for the reception, took a few pictures, and hit the open bar hard.
Sometime after that, I was challenged to a dance-off and, as seen above, completely destroyed the competition by yanking off my jacket and sliding across the dance floor on my knees. In the first round. Again, I have never felt so awesome in my life.
All in all, it was an incredible weekend that left me exhausted and voiceless, but immensely happy for the newlyweds.
Congrats Sachin and Anushka!
